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AAR: Capping rail revenues would threaten U.S. economic goals
I can’t believe this is even being considered…
So these guys in Congress think that capping revenue will take money out of the Wall Street crowd’s pockets? They really don’t understand the most basic rule of capitalism. Profits come FIRST. If we have to cut off our own right hand to pay the stockholders, then we’ll cut off. And smile while we pay them with our left hand. Oh, and reinvesting in the business? Improving the product? Competing successfully with trucks? No money for that. Remember those Wall Street guys come first. Before customers, before the very tracks that make the profit and absolutely before the employees. The railroads must be able to make enough money to satisfy the greed of Wall Street AND to invest in making the business stronger. Government meddling will get us back to bankrupt railroads and 10 mile-per-hour trains as surely as the sun rises in the east.
Just the latest in a long series of outrages from the Stalinist goons in the Executive Branch. Congress should stand up and put an end to this systematic destruction of the Constitution, but they haven’t got the intestinal fortitude to do it.
With the exception of the United States and a few other countries, throughout history the overwhelming majority of humanity has lived under tyrannical rule. We are well on our way down that “road to serfdom” today. God help us all.
Stalinist you say? This is really originating with private industry (think electric utilities and chemical shippers to name the two most effective and well funded) who have more effectively $lobbied the government (and you’re kidding yourself if you think it’s just the executive branch) than the railroads and the AAR have.
Railroads only make money by moving goods a distance. They pay their employees who do this by the hour. Distance versus time equals speed. The railroad industry need excellent track to run at speed to earn any profit, and that needs a lot of investment in the right of way structure. I agree with prior post that it is another outrage from the Stalinist goons in the Executive Branch. Where is your food and fuel going to come from if the railroads can’t keep the trains moving fast? Any slowing down will damage your standard of living and make everything cost more.
And of course there exist other issues at play here, such as the fact of reduced competition resulting from mergers or consolidation (even if rail is now profitable, the hurdles to starting or building new RR’s are almost insurmountable) and the disparity of capital investment between the majors (BNSF can spend whatever it wants without regard to Wall St). No one should be surprised that bulk shippers want help, nor do they care about the issue of timeliness. On the other hand, roads that show an interest in high-revenue loads like the possibility of passenger train like speeds, can charge a premium, and invest accordingly to make it work. There will be no issue of revenue caps raised in that market.
This appears to be a move to nationalize rail lines, at least the ROW infrastructure. Then contract out operators similar to Amtrak, which has worked so well, or maybe not so well!
Congress and Washington as a whole need to stay out of the railroads business. One the one hand they are telling the railroads to spend BILLIONS to implement positive train control and they they want to limit revenue to pay for it. The EPA has already done enough damage to railroad profits by their attempt to kill coal let’s stop the madness and let railroads do what they do best , haul all the things they make all are lives better and make money doing it. DC back off already…
The governments of the US need to make up its mind. Either the railroads are private, undeserving of public support or subsidy, and strangled by high taxes, while its rivals continue to be showed in hundreds of billions, in which case they have no right whatsoever to insist on income caps for each operator, or they’re vital transportation infrastructure, in which case they need to stop taxing, start funding, and possibly even take over those parts of the system the private sector doesn’t want to run.
My preference would be (b), though I’m aware an anti-government streak runs through many here that would object to even that… either way, taxing and price capping vital infrastructure is utterly absurd.
“Stalinist goons” is such a good term. We live under an oppressive socialist government that wants to tell us all what to do, say and even thiink. The government taking over the rails is not the answer. Look at Amtrak and see how well that turned out. Government needs to stay out of private business.
I sense Congress would try to tap into the revenues the railroads make because they can’t move their corporate headquarters to Burmuda and claim they are a subsidiary of a Dutch company like far to many US companies have done. Congress would then use that money to pay bills while lowering corporate taxes for other companies.
Yeahhhh… because that worked sooooo well last time…
What about making trucks pay for a build their own roadways?
Mr. Welborn, no elected individual dares raise gas/diesel taxes on road vehicles for fear of being tarred and feathered. Thus, truck, the major damager of our roads and bridges, will continue to be subsidized by the government until fuel prices skyrocket due to a lack of oil some decade in the future.
And again our own government continues its ruthless crusade against free enterprise and the public’s real interest. Higher taxes, choking regulations, complete opposition to anyone actually being successful. Are they jealous because the government is so incapable of efficient management itself. Witness our out of control deficits? Or do they really aspire to the kind of absolute govrnment control favored by dictators past and present? Well, Musselini did claim to make the trains run on time.